Railway switch circuit controller



April 10, 1945. H, L QQ'NE I 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 SheetS -Sheet 1INVENTOR Hefberz 80129.

HIT ATTORNEY April 10, 1945. H. 1 BONE I 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 Street's-Sheet 2I [III HIP ATTORNEY [malafz'o n H. L. BONE RAILWAY swi'rca CIRCUITCONTROLLER April. 10, 1945.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 27, 1944 IN VEN TOR m M L f M W M! ATTORNEYApril 10, 1945. H. BONE RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27,1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 N m a a m. m

, Hi5 ATTORNEY" Apr-i110, 1945. H. BONE 2,373,451

RAILWAY SWITCH CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed May 27, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 5xifxx F Hi1 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 10, 1945 UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICERAILWAY SWITCH CIRC UIT CONTROLLER Herbert L..Bne, Forest Hills, Pa.,assignor to The Union Switch & Signal Company, Swissvale, Pa, acorporation of Pennsylvania I Application May 27, 1944, Serial No.537,584

' f 4' Claims. (on. 2 1 253) My invention relates to railway switchcircuit controllers, and particularly to' circuit controllers for use inconnection with spring switches of the type which are provided with afacin point lock so constructed that when the switch'points occupy theirnormal positions the locking plunger of the lock will normally occupy alocking position in which it positively locks the switch points in theirnormal positions, but that, when a train trails the switch the lockingplunger will be automatically withdrawn from its locking position tounlock the switch by means mechanically actuated by the train, and thatwhen the movable rails have been returned to their normal positions uponcompletion of the trailing movement, the locking plunger will beautomatically restored to its locking position by spring means to relockthe switch.

In one well known form of circuit controller of the type described thesame set of contacts are controlled jointly by a point detector rod andby the locking plunger in such manner that these.

contacts will be operated either by displacement of the switch pointsfrom their normal positions or by displacement of the locking plunger ineither direction from its normal locking position. These contacts haveusually been employed to controlboth the main line and siding signalsfor the switch, and with this arrangement it occasionally happens thatmain line trains are compelled to which heretofore havebeen provided forreverse point detection in response toovertravel of the plunger; Theselatter means consist of' an overtravel spring plunger assembly actuatedby the locking plunger and cooperating with a cam provided on the'memberwhich heretofore functioned with the'point detector rod'to operate thereverse point detector contacts.

Other objects and characteristicfeatures of my invention will becomeapparent asthe description proceeds.

I shall describe one form of circuit controller embodyingmy invention,and shall then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig; 1 is atop plan view showing a springswitch-A operated by a switch operating mechanism B -provided withacircuit controller embodying my invention. Fig.

2 is an enlarged top plan view of the circuit controller of themechanism shown in Fig. 1 with the cover removed to show the operatingparts thereof. Fig. 3 is a-vertica-llongitudinal sectional view ofthecircuit controller embodying my in-. vention. Fig. 4'isa sectionalview taken substantially on the line IV- -JV of Fig. '3. Fig. 5 is adetail sectional view of apart of the circuit contravel separate fromthat for the normal position of the points and for undertravel of thelocking plunger. The overtravel indication may then be used to controlthe siding signal only and the other indication may be used to controlthe main line signals only with the result that main line trafiic willnot be penalized by over-travel of the locking plunger and trailingtrains will not be penalized by any condition except that which makes itimpossible for these trains to unlock the switch.

According to my invention, I modify the cam dog which is carried by thelocking plunger of the troller shown in the preceding views. Figs. 6, 7and daredetail views of various-parts of the circuit controller "shownthe preceding views.

Similar reference characters referxto similar parts in each of theseveral views.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the reference character A- designates arailway switch comprising as usual we fixed railsl and la' and two'movable rails land 20.. The fixed rails l and in are laid on tie plates3-and= are secured to crossties- 4 in theusual manner. The movablerail's- 2- and 2a are fastened to ether by a front rod 5', a head rod 6,a bridle rod land a tie rod 8 and maybe movedintoanormal or'a reverseposition by means of a. switch-operating mechanism B which retardingaction on the movable rails.

Fig. 1, the movable rail 2 engages the fixed rail I, and the movablerail 2a is spaced from the fixed rail la. When the switch is reversed,however, the movable rail 2a then engages the fixed rail la, and themovable rail 2 is spaced from the fixed rail 1.

The spring connecting rod C may be of any suitable type, butin the wellknow form here illustrated, this connecting rod is similar in allrespects to the spring connecting'rod C shown and described in LettersPatent of the United .States No. 1,976,827, granted to me on October 16,1934, for Railway switch operating apparatus. It is believed, therefore,that for purposes of my present disclosure it is sufficient to point outthat this connecting rod includes spring means which biases the switchpoints to whichever extreme po'- sition they are moved to by themechanism B with sufiicient force to permit facing point moves over theswitch without displacement of the points, but which yields when a traintrails the switch and thereby allows the train to force the switchpoints to a position opposite to that to which they are biased by thespring means.

Thehead rod 6 is also connected by means of an adjustable jaw IS withthe piston rod 16 of a buffing device D. This bufiing device may also beof any suitable type but, as here shown, this buffing device is similarin all respects to the buffing device shown and described in LettersPatent of the United StatesNo. 1,869,604, granted to William C.McWhirter on August 2, 1932, for Bufiing devices for railway switchesand the like. It is believed, therefore, that a detail description ofthis device is unnecessary. It should be pointed out, however, that thisbufling device includes, in addition to the piston rod 16, a cam shaftll extending into the case of the device and controlling a valvemechanism not shown, Attached to the outer end of the cam shaft I1 is acrank l8 which is connected by a link [9 with the spring rod M of thespring connecting rod 0. If when the movable rails 2 and 2a of theswitch A are in their normal positions, as shown in Fig. 1, they aremovedto their reverse positions by the mechanism B, the piston rod IEwill be moved into the device and the cam shaft ll will be rotated in aclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1. The construction of the deviceis such that, under these conditions, the piston rod l6 will bepermitted to move with substantially no resistance, and the bufiingdevice will therefore exert practically no Conversely, if the movablerails are moved from their reverse positions to their normal positionsby the mechanism B, the piston rod will be moved outwardly and the camshaft I! will be rotated in a counter-clockwisedirection, as viewed inFig. 1,

but due t the construction of'the device, no retarding action will againtake place. If, however, when the movable rails are in either extremepostion, a train trails the switch, the cam shaft 11 will remainstationary, and under these conditions, the action of the device is suchthat the movement of the movable rails away from the positions whichthey previously occupied will be unresisted by the buffing device, butthat, when the movable rails are being restored to the positions whichthey previously occupied by the spring means of the spring connectingrod C, the bufiing device will act to retard this latter movement. v

The switch operating member 3 is mounted on one endof a tie'strap 20which is secured to the ties adjacent the outer side of the rail I, andas here shown is similar in all respects to that described and claimedin Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,235,031, granted to KenenthJ. J McGowan on March 18, 1941, for Railway switch operating apparatus.Since the construction of the mechanism is described in detail in thesaid McGowan patent, it is believed to be suflicient for the purpose ofmy present application to point out that this mechanism includes a handthrow lever 2| connected with a switch operating crank 22 throughsuitable operating mechanism not shown in such manner that the operatingcrank will occupy the normal extreme position shown or will be rotatedfrom this position in a counterclockwise direction to a reverse extremeposition according as the hand throw lever occupies the position shownor its opposite extreme position. The switch operating crank 20 isoperatively connected with the previously described operating rod 9. V

The mechanism B also includes a locking plunger 23 which cooperates witha notch 24 in a lock rod L to at times lock the switch in its normalposition for facing point moves over the switch. When the hand throwlever 2| occupies the position shown, the locking plunger is yieldablybiased by spring means 25 to a locking position in which it is disposedin the notch 24 in the lock rod L, and under these conditions the switchis locked, but when the hand throw lever is rotated from the positionshown toward the opposite extreme posi tion, the locking plunger iswithdrawn'from the notch 24 to unlock the switch'before any movement ofthe switch operating crank 22 takes place.

The lock rod L is slidably mounted in a transverse guideway formed inthe casing of the mechanism B, and is adjustably secured at one end tothe front rod 5 of the switch A. The notch 24 is so disposed that itwill align with the locking lunger 23 when and only when the switch Aoccupies the extreme position in which it is shown in the drawings andthe movable rail 2 is in proper engagement with the fixed rail I.

The parts of the mechanismB are so proportioned that when the hand throwlever 2| occupies its normal position as shown, the spring means 25which moves the locking plunger 23 to its locking position will tend todrive the locking plunger beyond the desired locking position. Thelocking plunger is prevented from moving beyond the desired lockingposition under these conditions, however, by linkage 26 which connectsit with the tie rod 8. The linkage '26 also constitutes means for movingthe locking plunger 24 to its unlocking position to unlock the switchwhen a train trails the switch as is fully explained in theaforementioned McGowan Patent No. 2,235,031.

Located in the lower end of the casing 30 of the mechanism B is acircuit controller E comprising a rocker arm 31 pivotally supportedintermediate its ends on a pivot pin 32 mounted in a pair of spaced lugs33 extending upwardly from the bottom of the casing 38. The rocker armis disposed directy above the locking plunger 23, and is provided with aroller 34 and with a cam face 35, which roller and cam face cooperate,in a manner which will be made clear presently, with a cam dog 36secured to the upper side of the locking plunger. Pivotally attached tothe left-hand end of the rocker arm 3! is a contact operating member 31.This contact operating member is mounted to move vertically on guidestuds 38, and is biasedto an upper position by compressed coil springs41 disposed on the studs 38. Secured to the upper sheet the contactoperating member are two superposed blocks 39, and 40 or insulating.materlarbetween which are clamped the free ends of aplura'lityofflexible contact fin er M here shown as four in number. Each contactfinger 1 cooperates 'with an associated contact member 4'2 to form aplunger Iock contact l l'2.

Each contact'fihger .4! and the associated contactmember 42 are clamped"to the opposite sides of an insulating block 43 by means or terminalposts 114' and 4B, and the insulating block 43, in turn, is supported onlegs '46 provided on a. supporting bracket 43. v Each terminal post 4 4is electrically connected with the associated contact member 12 butis'insu'la'ted. from the associated contact finger 1], whil eachterminal post 45 is electrically connected with the associated contactfinger 4| but is insulated from the associated contact member '42. g

The cam dog 36 is provided with a cutaway portion 36a which aligns withthe roller '3 when the locking plunger 23 is moved to its full lockingposition or to any position beyond this position, and the parts are soproportioned that when this cutaway portion is in alignment with theroller t h-econtac t operating member is free to. move due to its biasto its upper position in which the contact ll-4 2 are open. 'When,however, the locking plunger is moved to its unlockingposition the highportion of the cam dog 38 engages the roller 34 before the plunger hasbeen moved far enough to clear the lock rod and rotates rocker arm 3icounterclockwise about the pivot pin 32. This rotation of the rocker armforces the contact operating member 3'! downwardly in opposition to thebias of the springs 47, and thus closes the contacts =42. When thelocking plunger has been withdrawn its full travel, the cam dog 36 willhave moved beyond theroller 34, but the extreme position under theseconditions by enrocker arm will be held in its counterclockwise gagementof the cam face 35 with the top of the cam dog. It will be apparent,therefore, that the plunger-lock contacts will Ice-open when the lookingplunger is in its locking position or any position beyond this positionbut will be closed when the plunger occupies-its unlocking position orany position between its unlocking and its locking position.

The circuit controller also comprises a point detector lever (Fig. '7)which is pivotally supported on pins 51 mounted in the bracket =48, andwhich is biased, by'means of a spring 52 inter- .p'osed between theframe and a laterallyprojecting arm 58, in a counterclockwise directionto the osition inwhich a roller 54 mounted in a depending lug 55 (see:Fig. '7 formed on the point detector lever enters a notch "56 in a.point "detector rod P. The point detector rod P is slidably mounted inthe casing 30, and 'as'shown'in Fig. -1 is attached by means or a link51 and a bolt '58 to the movable rail 2 or the switch A-in the usual and'well known manner. -'I-he point detectorv lever 50 is also providedwith a laterally projecting arm 59 having a rounded end which overliesand cooperate with-the conical-head 60a ofafin'ger 6!] which is'adjustably mounted in the end of the rocker arm 3' The notch 56 in thepoint detector rod P is so disposed and the parts are so proportionedthat the roller 54 will enter the notch 56 when and only when themovable rails 2 and 2a of the switch A occu y their normal extremepositions and the movable rail 2 is in proper engagement With themovable rail I. The parts are further pivot pins "5! so proportionedthat when theroller 5c is within the notchtb and the rocker-arm 3|occupie its normalposition, the rounded end of the arm 59jwill-just'tou'ch the upper side'of the conical head sta or the fingertil, but that, when the roller '54 is forced out of the notch 58, theresultant clock- 4 c'ontacts ll fi'2 tobecome closed. It follows,

therefore, that any displacement of the switch point '2 away from therail I when the parts are in the positionsshewn in the drawings willoperate the contacts l'l l'i The portion of the circuit controller thusfar described is identical to circuit controllers which are inwidespread use except for the fact that the cam dog 36 has been modifiedso that movement of the locking plunger beyond the desired lockingposition '(overtravel) will not cause operation of'the contacts '4 l--'42. As was pointed out hereinbefore, the "object of my presentinvention is to provide means whereby overtravel of the l'ocki'ngplungerwill provide an indication which is wholly independent of the indicationprovided by the portion of the circuit-controller thus 'far described,and I accomplish this object "by the novel means "which I shall nowdescribe.

As here'shown, these means comprise a second set of contacts, eachcomprising a flexible contact finger cooperating with a fixed contactmember "616. Each flexible. contact finger 65 is fastened atone end to aconducting strip '61, the other end'b'fwhich is clamped against thelower side of an insulatingterminal board 68 by means of a terminalpo'st69 which is electrically connected with'the strip and a terminal post'10 which is insulated from 'thestrip, while each fixed contact member86 is secured "to, and electrically connected with, an associated one oftheterminal posts 10. The terminal board "68 is secured at its ends tothe supporting bracket 48. Pivotally mounted below the contact fingers6-5 on the same lever 50 is a contact 'operatingmember ,1! provided withan insulating block 12 which cooperates with'the flexible contactfingers 65 in a manner which will be'made clear presently. The contactoperatingmemb'er H is also provided with a v laterally projecting camlug I 3, and is biased in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig.3, by means of a spring 14 to a position in which the cam" lug 13engages a cam head 15 screwed onto the end of a spring rod 16 formingpart of a plunger overtravel spring assembly. The spring 14 is stretchedbetween a spring lug 1! (see Fig.

4) formed on the contact operating member H and a spring bracket 18secured to the bottom of the mechanism casing. The spring rod 16 isslidably mounted in spaced guideways l9 and provided in a supportingframe 81-, "and is surrounded between the guideway 19 and a washer 82which abutsaga'inst a "shoulder 83 formed on the rod, by a compressedcoil vsprin'g' ll l which biases the spring rod toward the right, 'asviewed in Fig. 3. The 'supporting fr'ame 8 is clamped by means ofmachine screwsb'li (see Figs. 4 and '5) against finished pads 86provided 'on the underside of the supporting bracket 48 in such positionthat the spring rod 16 allgnsaxially with the "locking 7 which supportthe point detector the spring rod, but that, if overtravelof .thelocking plunger occursfor any reason, the end of the locking plungerwill then engage the adjacent end of the spring rod and will move ittoward the left as viewed in Fig. 3. The limit of overtravel of finger65 to operate the contacts 65--66.

It will be seen from the foregoing that in accordance with my presentinvention the circuit controller is provided with two separate andindependent sets of contacts, one set of which is operated eitherbydisplacement of the switch points away from their normal set positionsor by movement of the locking plunger from its normal looking positiontoward its unlocking position, and the other set of which is operated byovertravel of the locking plunger. The provision of these two sets ofcontacts enables the main line and siding signals commonly employed inconnection with spring switches to be separately controlled in suchmanner that main line traflic will not be penalized by overtravel of thelocking plunger, and trailing trains will not be penalized'byanycondition except that which makes it impossible for these trains tounlock the switch. a

It should be particularly pointed outthat the contacts 65-66 may beidentical with those which are commonly provided for detecting that theswitch points are in their proper.,positions relative to the stock railswhen they are set in these positions by operation of the mechanism B toits reverse extreme position, and that the contact operating member 1|is also identical with that which is commonly used to provide reversepoint detection except for the addition to this bracket of the cam lug13. It follows, therefore,

that in order to convert a circuit controller of the type heretoforeinwidespread useinto one embodying my present invention it is onlynecessary to modify the cam dog 36 in the manner outlined hereinbefore,replace the usual-contact operating member II by one provided with a camlug l3, and add the ov ertravel spring plunger assembly to themechanism. 6 I

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of circuitcontroller embodying-my invention, it is understood that-various changesand modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, ,a railway switch, a lock rod connected to saidswitch to move therewith and provided with a notch, a lockingplungernormally movable between a locking position in which said plungeris within said notch'and an; unlocking position in whichit is withdrawnfromv said notch but capable of abnormal movement within said notch pastsaid locking position a contact, and means for detecting said abnormalmovement comprisinga spring rodbiased toaposition to be operated, bymovement of said plunger beyond its locking position, and cam meansoperatively connecting'said contact with said spring rod.

ame

2. In combination. a spring switch, a lock rod connected with saidswitch and provided witha notch, a locking plunger normally movablebetween 2. locking position in which said plunger is Within said notchand an unlocking position its locking position comprising a sprin roddisposed adjacent the end of said plunger and biased to a position to bemoved in opposition to its bias by movement of said plunger beyond itlockin position, and means operatively connecting said spring rod withsaid contact.

3. In combination, a spring switch, a lock rod connected with the switchpoints to move therewith and provided with a notch, a, locking plungeradapted to enter the notch in said lock rod when and only when theswitch occupies its normal extreme position, said locking plunger beingmovable within said notch to an extreme position which is beyond itsnormal locking position, means for moving said locking plunger into andout of engagement with said notch, a cam do secured to said lockingplunger, a pivoted rocker arm provided with means cooperating with saidcam dog in such manner that when said locking plunger occupies itslocking position or any position beyond this position said rocker armwill be rotated to one extreme position but that if said locking plungeri withdrawn from its locking position said rocker arm will be rotated toanother extreme position, a first contact operated by said rocker arm, alocking plunger overtravel spring assembly mounted adjacent the end ofsaid plunger and comprising a spring rod biased to a position to beoperated by movement of said locking plunger beyond it locking position,a

' cam head secured to said spring rod, a contact operating memberprovided with a cam lug cooperating with said cam headin such mannerthat movement of said spring rod by engagement with said locking plungerwill operate said contact operating member, and a second contactoperated by operation of said contact operating I member.

4. In combination, a railway switch, a lock rod connected to the switchto move therewith and provided with a notch, a locking plunger normallymovable between an unlocking position in which it is out of engagementwith said lock rod and a locking position in which it enters said notchbut capable of abnormal movement within aid notch past it lockingposition, a first contact, cam means cooperating with said first contactfor operating said contact to one or another position a-ccording'as saidlocking plunger occupies its locking position or is moved away from itslockin osition toward its unlocking position, and means for detectingabnormal movement of said plungerbeyond its locking position comprisinga second contact, a spring rod biased to a position to be operated bymovement of said plunger beyond its locking position, and cam meansoperated by said plunger for operating said contact.

HERBERTL. BONE.

